Re: Ethical question: writing about clinical experiences
- From: "Wilba" <WilbaSPPM@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 24 Oct 2005 03:35:23 GMT
Tim McNamara wrote:
> Wilba wrote:
>> Gene Douglas wrote:
>> >> English1413 writes:
>> >> >
>> >> > Thus, psychology as it is often practiced in these days of
>> >> > managed care, often becomes the art of dispensing quick and
>> >> > effective mind altering drugs. The patient feels better, but
>> >> > the ultimate cause is ignored.
>> >>
>> > You're speaking of psychiatry. And if the patient feels better, is
>> > the ultimate cause just a hobby of a therapist, who is then the one
>> > who is disappointed?
>>
>> Perhaps the one who is ultimately disappointed is the one who has
>> unpleasant side effects from the drugs, or is unable to afford them
>> until they are no longer needed, or who could have been helped by
>> something other than taking expensive drugs for a long time, or...
>> seems to me there are many possibilities.
>
> There's a tendency to believe that there is some correctible or
> treatable underlying cause of mental illnesses. There are a lot of
> sources for this belief, Freud being a prominent one. Many
> psychotherapists believe this and want to dig into their clients to find
> it. It comes as a disappointment to these therapists when the client
> gets better without "psychoarcheology" being done.
>
> My view is that there may or may not be a deep underlying cause, and if
> there is the cause may or may not be remediable. This varies from
> client to client. Many if not most clients can feel better and live
> more effective lives without digging for that cause, simply by
> addressing more immediate, practical and every day issues as we do with
> cognitive-behavioral therapy. Doing psychoarcheology can do much more
> harm than good, as the purveyors of false memories have shown.
>
> My own views about ultimate underlying causes are very much tempered by
> Buddhism. Incorrect ways of looking at ourselves, our world and the
> relationship between them are the cause of much suffering. In Buddhist
> "psychlology," the Abhidharma covers the Buddhist perspective in detail
> and offers some things that can be useful in clinical practice (e.g.,
> mindfulness practice). In modern psychology, though, we see some
> parallels to the Buddhist perspective in REBT and CBT which have the
> benefit of having a foundation in modern science and having been tested
> with some rigor. It is the latter which I think is crucial-
> psychotherapy approaches should be put to the test to prove efficacy.
> Just because a therapist believes something doesn't mean that it is
> true- something we keep telling clients.
Very well said, Tim. I didn't know that you were influenced by Buddhism -
that adds an interesting aspect to my Tim object. :-)
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
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